By the Rev’d Hilary Willett
Season: The Second Sunday of Eastertide
Readings: Acts 5:27-32 | Rev 1:4-8 | John 20:19-31
When I was in intermediate school, I was a part of the Lions Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival concert. The Lions Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival was a series of musical performances from school choirs around Christchurch. Every school would be sent a little booklet of music. Additionally, each school would send a couple of people from their school choirs to audition for a smaller choir. In this choir, the singers were trained by professional opera singers for a few months, in preparation for the performance.
Sounds like a pretty amazing experience, right?
Unfortunately, for eight-year-old Hilary, much of the wonder of the opportunity went over my head. Being cooped up in a church for two hours, being taught about “north and south” mouth shapes, correct annunciation of vowels, and lifting your soft palate so that you would sing “up through the top of your head,” was all very tedious. In this choir, we learned about vibrato, diction, projection (you can blame them for the volume of my voice!). But most of all, we learned about breathing.
Breathing, as it turns out, is one of the most essential skills of a singer. It is breath that allows projection without straining your vocal cords, breath that allows for resonance, breath that enables the ability to float over the top of notes gently like rain. Breath is key. Specifically, breath from the diaphragm. Has anyone heard of breathing from the diaphragm before?
It’s incredible; breathing from the diaphragm allows you to take much deeper breaths. It’s an instant stabiliser. If you are ever panicking or stressed, a few breaths from the diaphragm work wonders! One of my pet peeves is pilates/yoga classes that always go on about “breathing from the chest.” Clearly, they’ve never been in a Canterbury Schools’ music festival before! Breathing lower, that’s the trick. It grounds you, fills your body with oxygen, and clears your mind. So, for about four years of my childhood, instead of running around and making my usual mudpies, I practised breathing a lot.
Now that I’m older, I feel pretty grateful for the experience. I understand a little more about why that experience was so special. While I didn’t end up following that musical route, what I learned in those sessions has served me well. When I’m feeling stressed, I breathe. When I’m needing to be still with God, I breathe. When I’m nervous about speaking at a pulpit, I breathe.
Actually, breath is very important in other spaces, too. For those of you who have participated in a hongi, a traditional Māori gesture of greeting (often after a Powhiri),[1] one of the meanings of this act is to “share breath” as a sign of unity.[2] Professor Te Hurinui Clarke from Canterbury University discusses it as “a spiritual act” that transfers breath and knowledge.[3] Similar customs are held in Hawaii, the “honi ihu” involves touching foreheads and noses, “embody[ing] the essence of life, connection, and respect.”[4] In Inuit culture, the “kunik” is used to show affection, which involves pressing the nose to the face and breathing in the person’s scent.[5]
In Jewish culture, too, there is emphasis on the breath. In Genesis, God “breathes” life into the first human creature (Gen 2:7-9). In Ezekiel, God breathes into dry bones to bring them to life (Ezek 37:1–14). Job talks about the Spirit of God making him and the breath of God giving him life (Job 33:4). The Psalmist talks of the breath of God creating the heavens (Ps 33:4). In 2 Timothy 3:16a, Paul talks about scripture as “inspired,” or, more accurately, “God-breathed.” Please note, “God-breathed” does not necessarily imply that scripture is “the literal words of God,” or “inerrant.” That is only one view. For me, the phrase “God-breathed” suggests that scripture holds something of the eternal mystery of God when we engage with it. Similar to how we breathe on a flame to keep a fire alive, God breathes through scripture on us, reminding us of who God is, keeping us alive spiritually by the Holy Spirit.
Breath is a wonderfully intimate and spiritual thing in many cultures, and it is also this in Jewish culture. It is a source of life, freshness, and inspiration. So, when Jesus turns up in our gospel reading in the midst of the disciples and breathes on them, this is an important moment. The act holds echoes of God breathing into the human creature in Genesis, breathing the stars alight, and breathing revival into the followers of God.
What was the breath of Christ like for his disciples, who were hiding in fear? I think we find the clue to this in Jesus’ words. “Peace be with you.” Two times, Jesus says this.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace.
Peace.
Breathe.
Did you know that one of the most effective ways to regulate a person who is panicking is to have a loved one breathe with you? The disciples were afraid. So Jesus breathed with them. Breathed on them. Declared peace.
In this past week, we have celebrated the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. And this has been a wonderful occasion, where we have been reminded that Jesus conquered death. But I would like to draw attention to another part of the resurrection. Jesus identifies with humanity and, in the most terrifying circumstances, brings peace. This is another important feature of the cross. Not only celebration and victory. Also, deep and abiding peace. Reassurance that God is with us. When all seems lost, God is with us. When we are stressed, God is with us. When our church is flooded, God is with us. When we want to find someone to blame, God is with us. When we watch the news in alarm, God is with us. When global leaders are finding enemies in every direction, God is with us. God is with us. God is with us. Breathe.
And if God is with us, how do we breathe that out to the world around us?[6] How do we breathe in the peace of Christ, daily, as a practice, so that we can breathe out the peace of Christ wherever we go? What does it look like to breathe peace with our friends, our families, our enemies? How do we breathe out peace to the people we can’t stand? We start by allowing Christ to breathe on us, filling us up with the Holy Spirit, filling us up with peace.
Peace. Peace. Breathe.
Amen.
Bibliography
Maris. “Honi: The Traditional Hawaiian Greeting.” Polynesian, August 13, 2024. https://polynesian.co/blog/honi-the-traditional-hawaiian-greeting/?srsltid=AfmBOoqAVnfH4lSPts4LrhLjRlcHJ8Q3787JcYa7r8qu0i8QAfwObhxe.
Nova, Shina. “Inuit Kiss Called ‘Kunik’, to Show Affection.” You Tube, August 11, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lME7r-5Rrq4.
Salmons, Matthew. “Hongi, Our National Greeting.” Stuff, September 17, 2017. https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/96504348/hongi-our-national-greeting.
Stendahl, John K. “John 20:19-31: Pastoral Perspective.” In Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Year C, Volume 2:13193–236. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009.
Whakarewarewa: The Living Māori Village. “10 Māori Traditions You May Not Know About.” Whakarewarewa: The Living Māori Village, n.d. https://whakarewarewa.com/10-maori-traditions-you-may-not-know-about/#:~:text=A%20traditional%20M%C4%81ori%20greeting%2C%20the,people%20pressing%20their%20noses%20together.
[1] Whakarewarewa: The Living Māori Village, “10 Māori Traditions You May Not Know About,” Whakarewarewa: The Living Māori Village, n.d., https://whakarewarewa.com/10-maori-traditions-you-may-not-know-about/#:~:text=A%20traditional%20M%C4%81ori%20greeting%2C%20the,people%20pressing%20their%20noses%20together.
[2] Matthew Salmons, “Hongi, Our National Greeting,” Stuff, September 17, 2017, https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/96504348/hongi-our-national-greeting.
[3] Salmons.
[4] Maris, “Honi: The Traditional Hawaiian Greeting,” Polynesian, August 13, 2024, https://polynesian.co/blog/honi-the-traditional-hawaiian-greeting/?srsltid=AfmBOoqAVnfH4lSPts4LrhLjRlcHJ8Q3787JcYa7r8qu0i8QAfwObhxe.
[5] Shina Nova, “Inuit Kiss Called ‘Kunik’, to Show Affection,” You Tube, August 11, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lME7r-5Rrq4.
[6] John K. Stendahl has a beautiful quote here: “May Jesus breathe in our words, but also let our hearers speak in kind.” (John K. Stendahl, “John 20:19-31: Pastoral Perspective,” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, vol. Year C, Volume 2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009), location 13236.).